This is the moment we've all been waiting for: Steam is finally coming
to the Mac, and bringing the entire library of Valve games with it. This
popular application was once King of the Games on Windows, but now it
has expanded its reign to include Mac OS X, too.

The availability of Steam for Mac gamers means that we'll finally be
able to kick the butts of our PC brethern, without investing in a pricey
gaming console, or a Windows PC. Additionally, game publishers will be
able to distribute all of the latest game titles via digital downloads,
and we'll be able to play all the various Valve titles across a
multitude of different computers, regardless of operating system. We
don't doubt that the Mac versus PC debate won't continue on for
generations to come, but at least there's finally some common ground.

Amazon’s top dogs are likely having some sleepless nights following Apple’s iPad introduction in late January, with a new survey showing that one in four current e-reader owners would have purchased an iPad instead.

Don’t get us wrong, we appreciate tasty eye candy like Avatar. But
documentaries tend to be the films that really amaze us. The impact of
the right story told by an artist compelled to share it tends to stay
alive in our hearts and heads long after we’ve forgotten whatever passed
for a plot in the big blockbuster productions.

And our fondness
for documentaries and independent film makers was deepened this year
when we found out that nine of the ten Oscar nominated documentaries in both the
"Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" categories were made using
Apple’s Final Cut Pro software.

Some of the 2010 documentary
nominees kindly took time out of their busy Oscar weekend to talk to us
about their films and how they made them.

We know spring doesn't officially start for another two weeks, but the way the weather and the sun have been playing with our minds lately, it feels like it might really happen on schedule. Of course, if we know winter, there's always at least one more trick up its sleeve. But this weather! It almost makes us not want to be inside playing with our tech toys.

So load up these links on your iPhone and get stepping out like us, because it's another sunshiney week of the best of the best from Mac|Life.

The folks over at Kotaku have really
stumbled upon a gem. Twelve shots of the first game made
specifically for the iPad have been released. The game is called Zen
Bound 2, and the publishing company is regarding it as a "sequel and a
revision" of the original iPhone game. The game will include tons of
new levels, more music and graphics that will exhibit the iPad's
capabilities as a gaming platform.

What are you going to do on your Mac today? The usual--emailing,
updating your enemies list, removing the geotag data from all the
photos of your secret underground lair? That all sounds pleasant
enough, but to really flex your world-domination muscles, we found two
turn-based strategy games that ape the classic gameplay of Risk. So
whaddya say, after lunch we try to conquer the world?

BioWare doesn’t release a ton of games, but when one is ready to roll,
the developer throws everything it has at it--including a native version
for the Mac. The company’s latest epic single-player role-playing game
Dragon Age: Origins was all that our Xbox-, PS3-, and PC-gaming friends
could talk about when it was released in November 2009, and now we get
to join the party.

Your car can either be your best friend or biggest foe depending on how
well you maintain it. But with the advent of the car ECU (that’s
“engine control unit,” aka the car’s computer), many of the tweaks that
gearheads could perform manually are handled behind the scenes by the
car itself. When’s the last time someone told you they had to adjust
the fuel mixture on their carburetor? The ECU takes care of that for
you, on the fly. Of course, when the Check Engine Light (CEL) begins to
glow on the dash, most drivers panic, and for good reason. The CEL
could be something as minor as a fuel cap that needs to be
tightened--or it might signify that one of your cylinders misfired.
CarMD enables you to take some of the guesswork out of determining
exactly what’s wrong with your ride with the help of its literally
named 2100 Handheld Tester.

Things are heating up in the patent wars with Android's market share
growing while the iPhone's growth has shrunk. Both Apple and HTC have
hit each other hard in the press while Cupertino has taken the
competition to court over multiple alleged patent claims.

Wired
takes a look at those patents and envisions just what Google's Android
phones would look like if Apple won every part of the suit. Short
answer: back to the drawing board for Android and HTC.